Strategic Business Development Jobs in Chicago, IL

McGuireWoods has an opportunity for a highly organized and business development operationally minded professional to join its Business Development team as a Manager, Strategic BD Operations. This role is integral to the successful execution of the firm’s Practice Group Program — a firm-wide initiative across practice groups designed to sharpen competitive positioning, build market-facing infrastructure, and accelerate business development.

Reporting to the Director of Strategic BD Operations, the Manager is an essential operational partner responsible for executing the systems, processes, and standards that enable practice groups to pursue clear, measurable, market-facing goals and ensuring that the program’s operational infrastructure functions with consistency and discipline across the portfolio.

This position may be based in our Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Chicago, Houston, New York or Washington, D.C. offices.

Practice Group Program Operations

• Serve as the primary operational liaison between assigned Practice Group Co-Leaders and the Marketing & BD department, facilitating go-to-market strategy, client targeting, and annual SMART goal development.
• Coordinate and maintain all program infrastructure, including the Practice Group Playbook, onboarding sequences for new co-leaders, and SMART goal tracking across the portfolio.
• Manage scheduling, preparation, and documentation for annual practice group check-ins, Advisory Committee sessions, and GTM Refresh Workshops.
• Working in collaboration with BD Leads, coordinate new partner and lateral integration into relevant practice groups within established timelines.
• Support BD Lead continuity by maintaining documented transition protocols and active goal summaries when Practice Group assignments change.
• Manage overlap across practice groups with shared client targets, ensuring messaging consistency and coordinated outreach.

Business Development Infrastructure & Operational Excellence

• Execute against defined standard operating procedures for pursuits, RFPs, pitches, experience management, and cross-selling workflows across the firm's practice group portfolio.
• Support adoption of CRM/ERM tools among Practice Group Co-Leaders, attorneys and BD Leads through training, troubleshooting, and ongoing guidance — ensuring contact records, matter experience, and pipeline activity are current, accurate, and accessible to attorneys and BD teams.
• Apply and uphold quality standards and messaging frameworks established by the Director for RFPs, pitches, and pursuit materials — ensuring consistency, differentiation, and alignment with practice group positioning.
• Identify process gaps and recommend improvements to the Director; contribute to the ongoing standardization of tools, templates, and workflows across the department.

Performance Tracking & Reporting

• Monitor KPIs for assigned practice groups tied to SMART goal progress, pipeline activity, cross-selling outcomes, and business development engagement.
• Maintain accurate, real-time tracking of BD activity across the portfolio, providing the Director with the data needed for advisory committee sessions and the annual impact report.
• Build and maintain practice group performance summaries, supporting a consistent and data-informed view of where groups are succeeding and where course corrections are needed.
• Track and report on legal directory and rankings submission status, thought leadership placements, event participation, and other market-facing activities.
• Coordinate with MarTech and analytics resources to surface relevant reporting and ensure dashboards reflect current practice group data.

Marketing & Brand Integration

• Maintain and update practice group web content in coordination with the BD and Communications teams, ensuring accuracy, consistency, and alignment with current positioning.
• Collaborate with marketing leadership to align practice group campaigns and promotional content with revenue priorities and market positioning strategy.
• Support internal firm communication efforts, including quarterly practice group highlights distributed through the firm Portal.

Team Leadership & Capability Development

• Serve as a day-to-day mentor and resource to junior BD colleagues supporting practice group activity.
• Support the Director in delivering structured onboarding and capability-building programming for Practice Group Co-Leaders, including GTM workshops, peer cohort sessions, and annual refresh workshops.
• Contribute to a culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement within the BD department.

• Bachelor's degree required; four or more years of business development and/or marketing experience within a law firm or comparable professional services organization.
• Demonstrated experience supporting or managing structured programs at scale, with the ability to maintain consistency and quality across multiple concurrent work streams.
• Strong command of business development operational standards, including RFP and pitch processes, experience management, CRM/ERM data governance, and pursuit workflows.
• Proven project management skills, including planning and executing conferences, events, cross-functional initiatives, and complex proposal responses.
• Highly organized and detail-oriented; able to balance competing priorities, make sound decisions independently, and adapt to shifting demands in a fast-paced environment.
• Collaborative and relationship-oriented; comfortable working across departmental and geographic lines to facilitate strategy, coordinate deliverables, and drive results.
• Strategic thinker with an understanding of market positioning, messaging consistency, and competitive differentiation in a professional services context.
• Self-starter with the discipline to translate long-term strategic priorities into structured, day-to-day execution without close supervision.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to develop polished deliverables including business plans, pitch materials, marketing collateral, and thought leadership content.
• Experience with Foundation or comparable knowledge management and CRM platforms is preferred.
• Technology-savvy; proficient in relevant software and eager to learn and adopt new tools. McGuireWoods employees have access to Harvey, a legal-specific AI platform that reduces time spent on routine tasks and enables focus on higher-impact work.
• Willingness and desire to work with innovative technology platforms - our employees also have access to Harvey, a legal-specific AI tool that reduces time spent on routine tasks, allowing you to focus on more meaningful, high-impact work.